2016 Elite League

The 2016 Elite League was the 82nd season of the top division of speedway leagues in Great Britain. The Elite League ran between March and October 2016. The Poole Pirates were the defending champions after winning their third consecutive title in 2015. The lineup of teams for 2016 stayed the same as in 2015, with the same eight teams competing. It was the last time that the competition would be known as the Elite League.

2016 Elite League
League2016 Elite League
ChampionsWolverhampton Wolves
Elite ShieldPoole Pirates
Riders' ChampionshipFredrik Lindgren
Highest averageJason Doyle
Division/s below2016 Premier League
2016 National League

Regulation changes

At the annual Elite League AGM, which was held during October and November 2015, it was announced that speedway bosses would continue to give more opportunities to young talent. All 8 Elite League teams would continue to track two young British draft riders, who would start the season at reserve. However unlike recent years these riders would be given Elite League averages after four meetings, giving them the chance to move into the top five of the team if they performed well. As a result of the reserve riders being given averages the overall points limit that teams must adhere to was raised from 34 to 40.5.[1] In February 2016, it was announced that Elite League teams could sign an eighth stand-in rider, who could race in positions 2 to 5. The rider must be foreign and new to the Elite League.[2] Lakeside Hammers signed Dennis Jonsson as their eight rider for the season.[2][3]

Teams
Locations of the 2015 Elite League teams

Results

Teams faced each other four times: twice home and away. The first of the home and away meetings were called the 'A' fixtures, and the second were the 'B' fixtures.

'A' Fixtures
Home \ Away BV COV KL LH LEI PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 50–42 45–21 50–40 48–42 49–41 40–50 56–37
Coventry Bees 46–43 46–47 54–30 49–41 47–46 42–50 38–52
King's Lynn Stars 39–54 46–44 51–39 51–42 38–55 45–45 48–42
Lakeside Hammers 53–39 60–33 56–36 56–34 50–40 51–39 53–37
Leicester Lions 41–52 46–44 45–45 33–56 46–46 50–42 39–51
Poole Pirates 41–49 60–29 65–25 57–33 58–35 61–31 51–39
Swindon Robins 51–40 55–35 55–38 50–40 43–47 44–46 44–48
Wolverhampton Wolves 46–43 51–41 49–44 54–38 58–31 55–35 62–30
Source: [4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

'B' Fixtures
Home \ Away BV COV KL LH LEI PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 59–34 41–49 63–29 52–40 48–45 52–40 46–44
Coventry Bees 42–48 41–48 57–33 50–40 47–43 56–34 46–44
King's Lynn Stars 50–40 41–49 48–42 54–38 39–53 41–51 40–52
Lakeside Hammers 48–45 57–35 60–32 66–26 42–48 58–35 55–37
Leicester Lions 43–47 52–41 0–0 44–46 52–38 44–46 47–43
Poole Pirates 52–41 56–36 61–29 52–41 58–32 50–40 52–38
Swindon Robins 33–39 55–36 52–38 52–41 57–33 50–42 50–41
Wolverhampton Wolves 39–51 52–41 61–29 51–41 50–40 48–42 51–39
Source: [4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final league table


Leicester Vs King's Lynn (B Fixture) was not raced

Pos. Club M Home Away F A +/− Pts
W D L 4W 3W D 1L L
1 Belle Vue Aces Q 28 12 0 2 4 3 0 3 4 1330 1178 +152 64
2 Poole Pirates Q 28 13 0 1 2 2 1 4 5 1394 1153 +241 59
3 Wolverhampton Wolves Q 28 13 0 1 3 1 0 4 6 1332 1210 +122 58
4 Lakeside Hammers Q 28 13 0 1 1 1 0 1 11 1323 1232 +91 47
5 Swindon Robins 28 10 0 4 3 1 1 0 9 1263 1267 -4 47
6 King's Lynn Stars 27 7 1 6 2 1 1 1 8 1112 1323 -211 36
7 Coventry Bees 28 9 0 5 1 0 0 2 11 1201 1348 -147 33
8 Leicester Lions 27 5 2 6 0 1 0 1 12 1103 1347 -244 21

Elite League play-offs

Draw
Semi-finals Grand final
          
4 Lakeside Hammers 41 28 69
1 Belle Vue Aces 49 63 112
1 Belle Vue Aces 36 50 86
3 Wolverhampton Wolves 54 42 96
2 Poole Pirates 51 35 86
3 Wolverhampton Wolves 39 55 94

Semi-finals
21 September 2016 Report Lakeside Hammers 41–49 Belle Vue Aces Arena Essex Raceway
Referee(s):
Mick Bates

21 September 2016 Report Poole Pirates 51–39 Wolverhampton Wolves Poole Stadium
Referee(s):
Chris Gay

28 September 2016 Report Belle Vue Aces 63–28 Lakeside Hammers National Speedway Stadium
Referee(s):
Craig Ackroyd

28 September 2016 Report Wolverhampton Wolves 55–35 Poole Pirates Monmore Green Stadium
Referee(s):
Phil Griffin

Grand final
3 October 2016 Report Wolverhampton Wolves
Kyle Howarth 12
Freddie Lindgren 9
Jacob Thorssell 9
Tai Woffinden 8
Sam Masters 8
Max Clegg 4
Peter Karlsson 4		 54–36 Belle Vue Aces
Craig Cook 10
Steve Worrall 8
Scott Nicholls 6
Richie Worrall 6
Matej Žagar 5
Max Fricke 1
Joe Jacobs 0		 Monmore Green Stadium
Referee(s):
Chris Durno

5 October 2016 Report Belle Vue Aces
Matej Žagar 10
Max Fricke 9
Joe Jacobs 9
Craig Cook 8
Richie Worrall 7
Steve Worrall 4
Scott Nicholls 3		 50–42 Wolverhampton Wolves
Freddie Lindgren 14
Tai Woffinden 11
Peter Karlsson 8
Sam Masters 3
Kyle Howarth 3
Jacob Thorssell 2
Max Clegg 1		 National Speedway Stadium
Referee(s):
Willie Dishington

Riders' Championship

Freddie Lindgren won the Riders' Championship for the second time. The final was held at Brandon Stadium on 8 October.[5][6]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1Sweden Freddie Lindgren3 2 1 3 312x3
2Denmark Niels Kristian Iversen2 3 3 3 01132
3England Chris Harris1 0 2 3 3921
4England Edward Kennett3 3 3 2 314x0
5Sweden Kim Nilsson1 3 3 2 1101
6England Danny King2 3 0 2 180
7England Kyle Newman2 2 1 1 28
8England Robert Lambert1 1 2 3 18
9England Paul Starke2 F/exc 2 1 27
10Australia Nick Morris0 1 3 F/exc 26
11Denmark Patrick Hougaard0 1 F/exc 2 36
12England Adam Ellis3 2 FX 0 05
13England Scott Nicholls1 2 0 0 25
14Australia Sam Masters3 1 1 0 05
15Australia Rohan TungateEF 0 2 1 14
16England Tom Bacon (res)0 0 1 1 02
17England Joe Jacobs- - - - -0
18England Conor Dwyer (res)00
  • f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired ef=engine failure t-touched tapes

Final Leading averages

[7]

Rider Team Average
Australia Jason DoyleSwindon9.58
Denmark Niels Kristian IversenKings Lynn9.04
Australia Chris HolderPoole8.95
Sweden Andreas JonssonLakeside8.45
Poland Krzysztof KasprzakCoventry7.91
Slovenia Matej ŽagarBelle Vue7.48
England Craig CookBelle Vue7.37
England Danny KingCoventry7.22
Sweden Freddie LindgrenWolverhampton7.21
Australia Sam MastersWolverhampton7.18


Riders and final averages

Belle Vue Aces

Source:[8]

Coventry Bees

Source:[9]

King's Lynn Stars


Rory Schlein replaced Mads Korneliussen on 7 July in the King's Lynn Stars team.
Nicklas Porsing replaced Rory Schlein on 1 September in the King's Lynn Stars team.

Lakeside Hammers

Source:[10]

Leicester Lions

Source:[11]
Aaron Summers replaced Grzegorz Walasek on 12 April in the Leicester Lions team.
Davey Watt replaced Sebastian Ułamek on 11 May in the Leicester Lions team.
Ludvig Lindgren replaced Davey Watt on 13 June in the Leicester Lions team.

Poole Pirates

Source:[12]
Bjarne Pedersen replaced Davey Watt on 26 April in the Poole Pirates team.
Antonio Lindbäck replaced Hans Andersen on 19 September in the Poole Pirates team.

Swindon Robins

Source:[13]

Wolverhampton Wolves

Source:[14]
Peter Karlsson replaced Mikkel Bech on 3 June in the Wolverhampton Wolves team.
Tai Woffinden replaced Joonas Kylmäkorpi on 11 August in the Wolverhampton Wolves team.

See also

List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions

Notes

    References
    1. "BRITISH SPEEDWAY UPDATE". Speedway GB. Speedway GB. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
    2. Andy Mitchell (2016-02-23). "Speedway: Poole Pirates to hold fire on eighth man option (From Bournemouth Echo)". Bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    3. "Lakeside snap up Swede - Sport". Romford Recorder. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    4. "BRITISH SPEEDWAY – RESULTS & SCORERS". Speedway GP. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
    5. "Elite League Riders' Championship". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
    6. "LINDGREN WINS ELRC". Leicester Speedway. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
    7. "Greensheet Averages" (PDF). Speedway GB.
    8. "Official Belle Vue Speedway". Bellevueaces.co. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    9. "Official Buildbase Coventry Speedway Website: 2016 COVENTRY BEES". Coventrybees.co. Archived from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    10. "Meet the 2016 Lakeside Hammers team". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
    11. "Riders » Leicester Lions Speedway". Leicesterlions.co. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    12. "Poole Pirates Speedway". Poolepirates.co. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    13. "Swindon Robins Speedway Official Website: 2016 SWINDON ROBINS". Swindonrobins.co. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
    14. "Wolverhampton Wolves Speedway: 2016 WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVES". Wolverhamptonwolves.co. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
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